Chinese Tea Ceremony Afternoon Tea – Teanamu

“Brewing tea is pressing a pause button in a stressful life”.

Nestled in the normally sleepy suburb of Nottinghill/Westbourne Park there is a small tea house, run by Buddhist tea artisan Pei Wang. Upon arrival, our group was greeted softly, ushered to table and began to relax.

After a short while, the server came to take our orders. It’s funny
because my brain didn’t really engage and I found myself becoming a
touch impatient. Then that little voice (you know, the one that that
says another glass of wine isn’t such a good idea) engaged. “Don’t be a
dork. Learn something from this – why are you in such a hurry anyway –
you are with a group of friends, comfortably seated, and tea is coming.”

And therein lies the genius of the Chinese tea ceremony. It is meant to be taken slowly, with pleasure and understanding.

Once we placed our tea orders, such an array of pots, containers and teeny tasting cups came out like I’ve never seen. Each of us had a unique brewing pot suited to the flavour of tea that we had ordered. One was only as big as an apple.

I chose the “Honey Orchid Phoenix” Dragon tea, it’s peach-like tones appealing to my fruity sweet tooth. Described as a “‘single bush’ oolong picked from a rare tea tree on Phoenix mountain, legendary playground of demigods and fairies. It is one of only 3,000 trees directly descended from one of the famous 18 tea bushes that have existed for 900 years in a unique, beautiful tea grove.” Tea Master Pei Wan explained that t’s dragon tea because of the way the dried plant looks, like a Chinese dragon.

^ This, this is how to be enchanted by a cup of tea.

We were then guided through the art of making each of our individual teas. Pei Wan explained how long to steep the tea, how many rounds it would take for the flavour to reveal itself in the longer teas, and how often to refill the vessel from the kettle kept on the corner of the table.

It’s such a bonding way to drink – everyone takes turns to pour the self boiling kettle for each of the rounds and lively discussions about technique ensue – and maybe a couple of sneaky pours straight into my cup when I left my phoenix tea for too long (shhh don’t tell anyone, especially Pei Wang. I’ll be barred.)

A few cups in our afternoon tea with a delicious Chinese twist began to follow.

I know my limits, and my clumsy writing skills can’t aptly convey the ethos of this calm oasis with any beauty. All I know is that we had a wonderful, relaxing time.

Don’t you love looking at other people’s cookery books? Such a great mix too.

Teanamu has to be one of London’s, certainly Notting Hill’s best kept secrets. Just be careful to follow the directions carefully, or go with a pro. It’s a short wander from Westbourne Park or a 10 minute trot from Notting Hill Gate.

I think I could peruse the listings on their website for hours, just for the beautiful descriptions of their new teas (and by the way they haven’t asked me to write a blog or promote them in any way, I paid with my own hard earned money, but found it such a fun experience I just had to share, just like the very different Willy Wonka one. I lurve afternoon tea, second best meal of the day after brunch!)

It goes to show that you don’t nessecarily need to leave London to travel. Enjoy a slice of Chinese tea tradition in tube Zone One.

Kia ora, welcome, welcome!

This my travel blog featuring as many Adventures as a London (based) Kiwi that I can fit in with a side of uniqueness. I’ve always wanted to live life to the full, explore as many corners of the globe as possible, nibble as many different delectations, experience history and seek out the special things in life. Consider yourself warned about me...